In the Chapman Center, students move between renovated classrooms and gathering spaces. Some are learning how artificial intelligence is reshaping their fields. Others are preparing for internships, conducting faculty research, managing millions of dollars in Trinity’s endowment, or preparing to meet finance professionals on Wall Street.
Michael Neidorff ’65 was once one of these students. He came to Trinity University from a small town in Pennsylvania, majored in political science, and went on to grow Centene Corporation from a single health plan in Milwaukee to a Fortune 25 healthcare giant during his 26 years as CEO. He became a prominent figure in the St. Louis community, but his connection to Trinity remained strong. He served on the Board of Trustees for 17 years, from 2005 until his death in 2022; for two of those years, he was chair. He and his family supported initiatives across the university, including the Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery and the Center for the Sciences and Innovation, and established the Neidorff Family/Centene Corporation Endowed Professorship, a university-wide endowed professorship.
Five years ago, Neidorff, his wife Noémi, and the Neidorff Family Trust made a $25 million gift to Trinity’s business school. In recognition, the school became the Michael Neidorff School of Business. The gift supported long-term investments across the school, including the renovation of Chapman Center, an endowed dean’s position, the Shirley K. and Dr. A. Harvey Neidorff Scholars Program in honor of his parents, and an Excellence Fund to advance the school’s priorities.
Together, the investments help bring Neidorff’s vision of national prominence for his alma mater into focus: a business school with a liberal arts and sciences foundation, now ranked No. 2 among national liberal arts colleges by Poets&Quants, with students engaged in applied learning through internships, research, and an alumni network that spans the continent.
“Michael Neidorff’s gift gave us the ability to think expansively about what a business education at Trinity could be,” says Raquel Alexander, Ph.D., dean of the Michael Neidorff School of Business. “Its impact is visible in our spaces, our faculty, our programs, and the many lives of future leaders who will benefit from a Neidorff business school education.”
That impact is reflected in student outcomes. Business students manage the largest student fund in the country. José Manuel Salazar Bogado ’26 was included in the 2026 "Best & Brightest" list of Poets&Quants, a global publication covering business schools and MBA programs. Others are completing internships before graduation and landing jobs at companies such as Dell Technologies, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and Valero Energy Corporation. Within six months of graduation, 99% of business school graduates are employed or enrolled in graduate school.
Preparing Students For What Comes Next
Experiences like Baumann’s reflect a broader effort to prepare students for a rapidly changing business world. That means giving them opportunities to conduct research, work across disciplines, and understand how emerging technologies are reshaping their fields.
More than 70% of business school faculty incorporated artificial intelligence topics into their Spring 2026 courses, preparing students to use new technologies expertly while retaining the judgment, creativity, and critical thinking that business leadership still demands.
Preparation also extends beyond the classroom. A pilot finance mentorship program paired 27 students with 27 alumni in finance-related fields, giving students a direct line to professionals already doing the work. The program will soon expand to all Neidorff School of Business students.
Putting Learning Into Practice
In Trinity’s Student Managed Fund (SMF), undergraduates make real investment decisions with real consequences. Working alongside faculty mentor Brian Korb, Ph.D., and drawing on the experience of alumni in the financial industry, 24 student fund managers research companies, debate strategy, and manage a portfolio that had grown to $19 million by Spring 2026, making it the largest student-managed fund in the nation overseen by an undergraduate class.
Before graduating, finance major Sean McDermott ’26 executed a $500,000 trade through the SMF and secured a highly coveted full-time position with banking powerhouse Stephens Inc.
“I think without Trinity, I probably don't end up in the position that I'm in,” he says. “This industry really comes down to what kind of connections and relationships you can build, and Trinity's network is just so passionate that it really punches above its weight in that category.”
Thousands of miles away, Namoshree Bajracharya ’28, spent his summer testing what he had learned at Trinity in an international business setting. Through the Trinity Shanghai Summer Program, the human resource management major paired coursework with an internship.
“This program gave me the confidence to know that I can not only succeed, but thrive, in a corporate environment,” Bajracharya said. “The skills I’ve gained at Trinity and in Shanghai have equipped me with the tools I need to make the most of future opportunities.”
This fall, another group of students will take that learning to the busy streets of New York’s financial district, where they will meet professionals and get a closer look at industries they may one day enter. For finance and business analytics major Jayden Kimani ’29, the trip offers a chance to begin building connections.
“I hope to learn from their experiences and gain a firsthand understanding of what it’s like to work in high finance, including the culture, rigor, and demands of the industry,” Kimani said.
Not every opportunity takes students away from campus. As Trinity’s inaugural Neidorff Executive-in-Residence, Zoe Thompson ’93 brought students, faculty, and staff together over lunch for “Business Bites,” conversations about contemporary business issues.
For accounting major Kyra Balyeat ’27, the conversation hit close to home. Her mother’s family has raised cattle on the same land in West Texas since 1910. Balyeat has spent summers working on the ranch, including helping work cattle this past May.
“Hearing my peers and professors discuss an issue that was so personal to me was interesting and gave me perspectives I hadn’t thought of before,” Balyeat said.
The conversation, she said, deepened her conviction about the importance of preserving the land while also reminding her how rarely college students talk about what it takes to keep family farms in business.
A Legacy Carried Forward
The long-term impact of the Neidorff gift cannot be measured in a single class, program, building, or academic year. Instead, it unfolds across generations.
Michael Neidorff understood that kind of horizon. His investment put his name behind not simply a business school, but a vision for what business education at Trinity could become: rigorous in its disciplines, supported by faculty and staff, strengthened by the liberal arts, connected to the world beyond campus, and continually evolving alongside the students it prepares.